Theordore Roosevelt
Born: October 27, 1858
Death: January 6, 1919
Party: Republican
Date of Terms in Office: 1901-1909
Vice President: First Term-None
Second Term-Charles W Fairbanks(1905-1909)

Over all Theordore Roosevelt deserves a B+ for his presidency. He helped promote better management of our limited resources. He also promoted anti-trusts and ways to improve labor conditions.

One of Theodore Roosevelt's goals was to build the Panama Canal to improve our naval mobility. He accomplished this goal, perhaps by illegible means to the Colombians, when he agreed to the Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty. He also had a goal of Progressivism for the working class and others. He met this goal by promotign anti-trusts, better work conditions and he even promoted women's rights. He also had a goal to promote better management of our natural resources. He accomplished this when he set up many Acts and programs to promote resource management, such as the Desert Land Act, the Carey Act, The Divison of Forestry and even the Yosemite National Park. Theodore Roosevelt met his goals fairly well.

Roosevelt had an off relationship with Congress. Congress thought he was a radical at times. Other times he pleased the Conservatives, such as denouncing reformers in the Muckrakers event. Also his relation with Congress can be seen as average with a total of 82 vetoes, this being compared to other presidents around his time. He did have bad relationships with Congress members that favored the big businesses. These business representatives, blocked lots of Roosevelt's proposals. They did not like his business and tariff reforms. The reason why Roosevelt's reform laws got passed was that the masses wanted the reform as well. Overall Roosevelt and Congress had a bad relationship because many members of Congress did not like his reform ideas.

One of the best things that Roosevelt did during his presidency was the natural resource regulations he put up. He helped through the Desert Land Act, Newlands Act and Carey Act to make sure that the dried lands that were bought would be taken care of and irrigated to improve the land. Through these Acts the land became more valuable and profitable. It lead to the Roosevelt Dam which allowed irrigation systems to be formed. Roosevelt also stopped deforestation by setting off 125 million acres as a reserve. Roosevelt formed the Yosemite National Park as well. The idea of multiple use resource development was formed. This lead to using the land in multiple ways to get the most out of federal land. Perhaps without this the forests in the U.S. would already be cut down. This also allowed settlement in the dry western regions of America. It also allowed businesses who wanted to use the resources to be better managed.

One of the worst things that Roosevelt probably did was handling his foreign affairs. His Big Stick policy was probably what got him into some troubles. In order to achieve the goal of the Panama Canal, he had to force the Colombians into a riot. Also, the Roosevelt Corollary, which allowed Roosevelt to justify his taking control of the lower Americas, upset the Latin Americans who did not want the U.S. interfering. Roosevelt's compromise between a dispute between Russia and Japan may have won him the Noble Peace Prize, but it cost the U.S. two strong allies. Roosevelt's Big Stick probably did damage on U.S. foreign relations.

One thing that Roosevelt did that impacted the future of the American people was his attack against corruption of the business and the bad work conditions of the workers. During his presidency Roosevelt set up the Square Deal. This regulated corporations, resources and protected the consumers. For the workers he established the Department of Labor and Commerce. To fight the trusts and corruption of big businesses, Roosevelt set up the Bureau of Corporation. He also broke up many trusts he thought were bad trusts that hurt the people. He allowed good trusts to continue. Roosevelt helped consumers by imposing the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act to help regulate consumer product quality. Today these actions that Roosevelt performed have improved our standard of living by ensuring better business management, better work conditions for the workign class and to improve the health of the consumers of America.

In Conclusion, Roosevelt deserves a B+ for his presidency. He set out his reform goals and foreign affair goals and he accomplished them alright. The thing is, his Big Stick approach to his goals was usually forceful. His relationship with Congress was relatively bad because he was a reformer and Congress was not. His resource management plan worked well and was realistic in a growing America where limitations on resources were needed to expand America's lifespan, so to speak. His foreign relations were forceful and usually damaged the relation between the U.S. and other countries. Roosevelt's reform on business and the working class has helped improve American life and industry to better suit the people. Overall, Roosevelt's goals and ideas for reform shaped the nation for the better.

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